The campaign to ditch Speaker Martin gathers pace

logdon

Gorbals Mick spouts that he didn’t enter politics to not accept every perk going.

This from the Speaker of the House, remember, not some jumped up class war, Tory hating shop steward.

Then again.......

George Laird

Dear All

I am a Glaswegian so I am declaring an interest on this piece.

I sincerely hope that Michael Martin MP from Glasgow is removed as Speaker of the House of Commons.

As much as I wish to see working class people get on, a mistake was made by allowing Michael Martin to be Speaker of the House.

The vote to remove Martin must be a free vote and Party Leaders across the benches must be firm in telling MPs' vote purely on Martin's merit and conduct.

There have been some great Speakers of the House, Betty Boothroyd for example but Martin is in my opinion an utter disgrace.

If he doesn't resign; he should be forced out by a vote of no confidence.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Jo

Cameron should SACK Michael Gove immediately.

J Wright

Martin has not suddenly become a dishonest scumbag who has brought disgrace upon this ancient office. The members who nominated him as an honorable fellow must have known of his true character ,and very likely spotted the opportunity to fill their boots .They must be named if this coruption is to be rooted out once and for all.

Silent Hunter

Well about bloody time!

The man is a complete waste of air and food.

Harry

I did (and still do) think MPs should respect the tradition and not speak up against the speaker. However, that was before Martin. He has been by far the worst speaker this country has ever had and must go. I have always thought this about him even before the expenses fiasco and letting the police in without a warrant.
I had my doubts about him as soon as he got rid of the speakers wig. It was clear then that he had no respect for the traditions of the commons.

hadrian

I suggest you are in Parliament NOt to advance your 'career' but to stand for principles. No wonder this shower are now held in such utter contempt.
As for the Speaker, watching him in action today, berating a Labour MP for demaning the speedier publication of expenses, one could but squirm that this aparently barely articulate toad could be the guardian of one of our Parliament's highest offices. As a Scot one is revolted , as a Brit just embarassed he was ever chosen- especially ib defiance of the ancient safe-guard of it alternating to the Opposition this time. The man's an oaf as we saw over the Green affair already and countless other instances. Yes, he should be gone!

Silent Hunter

Just as an aside - Why does it take soooooo long for comments to appear here?

Nicholas

We are slap bang in the middle of a constitutional crisis brought about by New Labour abusing the parliamentary traditions, running roughshod over its conventions and trampling the rule of law for 12 long, miserable years.

For anyone brave enough "to place his own ship alongside that of the enemy" the protocols don't matter anymore. History is in the making and destiny awaits.

Fred

Hats off to Carswell and Wallace.

Lofa on the sofa

maybe he should stay for the common good,
if he is shown the door, they'll have to vote in a new one. I can't see Broon accepting anyone who isn't dyed in the wool Labour, we'll then be stuck with a partisan speaker after the next election. The convention about speakers coming from alternate parties means nothing to Labour, as they demonstrated by electing this failure in the first place. Cameroon would be better off putting up with this fool for another year and then putting a patsy of his own in the speakers chair. Can anyone think of a suitable candidate?

TomTom

If Labour breached convention and replaced the excellent Betty Boothroyd with yet another Labour MP as Speaker that was a precedent for regarding the Speaker as tainted.

Since Speaker Martin has repaid his party by being an Ultra-Loyalist to the Scottish Tribe he has turned the Commons into the kind of assembly favoured in Communist Bloc republics.

There is no credibility to this Speaker who simply makes The Commons a chorus line for the Government

Hawkeye

Fraser said: "So Wallace and Carswell will have done their careers no favours today. "

Maybe. Maybe not.

I think it all depends WHY they are in politics. If they truly aspire to climbing the greasy pole then your supposition is correct. If their main aim is to serve their constituents and they do not give a sod about ministerial appointments then they have nothing lose, but they will gain moral stature. In the post ExpenseGate HoC that could be a coin well worth having.

Daniel1979

Frasier -lots of red boxes over some words, did you leave your spell check on?

(no need to publish - am just saying)

Tiberius

What else could happen to complete the rout of our governing class?

I hope the red phone doesn't ring at 3am anytime soon.

Denis Cooper

It's not the first time that Douglas Carswell has done the right thing, even though it puts his career at risk.

Just by signing up to the Better Off Out campaign:

http://www.tfa.net/betteroffout/

he sacrificed any hope of getting on the Tory front bench under the present leader.

A man who actually deserves the title "Honourable Member", I believe.

Daniel1979

Glad to hear it, but a whole day after Doug Carswell raised the point is there really just 2 MPs willing to say so publically - that is not nearly enough.

Shame, because I think Speaker Martin has not been good enough and should have gone in his own allowances scandal a long time back.

John Woolman

It is interesting that a number of attempts to set up petitions on the 10 Downing Street web site calling for the resignation or replacement of Mr Speaker have been rejected, all apparently for the following reason:- "This petition has been rejected because: It was an issue for which an e-petition is not the appropriate channel
Additional information about this rejection:
This is a matter for direct communication with Parliament."

One trusts that some of the people will have a direct say in the matter if only by the SNP continuing to breach the convention that the sitting Speaker stands unopposed in his constituency at a General Election.

molesworth_1

Those of us who follow this nonsense of a soap-opera have, for some years now, thought Martin a befuddled & vindictive, venal & partisan Speaker. That the members of the Commons have only now defied protocol & openly criticised him gives us outsiders a quantitative measure of how out of touch the members of this emasculated legislature are. About 7yrs., by my reckoning.

Ian Walker

Have the sitting MPs not yet realised that their opponents will be going door-to-door come the next election with a list of their expenses?

Kittler

The Scots Parliament publishes quarterly and in minute detail, all MSP expenses. All claims are receipt based, are online, no need for FoI requests. Since the introduction of this transparency the media have of course trawled through them and surprise, surprise, have not found a story. Poor Mcletchie under the old system claimed a few taxi fares from the parliament building to a destination not connected with parliamentary business and had to go, they would all loose their jobs in Westminster if a Mcletchie standard was applied.

Thrasymachus

The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

How apposite, just and ironic it will be if honourable members claim the Speaker's head in order to clear their consciences of their own greed. To how many MPs, I wonder, is this idea now crystallizing as a viable option. Is Gordon thinking this move could delay them coming for his hide?

At least we'd be rid of that sycophantic, cowardly, useless buffoon who's been nothing but an embarrassment to an office upon which our once great Parliamentary Democracy so crucially depended.

His head was always too grand to wear the wig, his shoulders were also far too narrow to bear the burdens of office.

AuldCurmudgeon

The level of cynicism about Parliament, and the accompanying alienation of many of the young from the democratic process, is troubling. It is an issue on which every Member of the House should wish to reflect. It is our responsibility, each and every one of us, to do what we can to develop and build public trust and confidence.

Let us make a start by remembering that the function of Parliament is to hold the Executive to account. That is the role for which history has cast the Commons. It is the core task of Members not merely to act as representatives of their constituents, important though that certainly is. It is in Parliament in the first instance that Ministers must explain and justify their policies.

...

I say to you, rejoice in your inheritance, defend your rights and remember always that the privileges the House enjoys were dearly won and must never be squandered.

Betty Boothroyd, Speaker, 1992-2000, Final Speech

TGF UKIP

Fraser, if Martin goes (hell like to freeze over) will Gordon be able to whip through a duplicate so that the Commons has the same regime for at least another ten years?

Would take a lot of gall, but who cares outside the village and nerds like us.

(Who Ben Wallace, BTW, don't forget we aren't familiar with all the egos like you are?)

Woolfie

At last what on earth has taken so long? Finally someone in our shambolic, venal, undemocratic cesspit of an excuse for leadership of our country has the guts to stand up and start to do what is right in the eyes of the "court of public opinion" Martin must go. Brown, Cameron, Clegg you should all be deeply ashamed and none of you deserve to hold a public office higher than a lollipop operative ( apologies to the fine upstanding ladies and gents of the lollipoping tradition)

Richard Lewis

As a working class, tax-paying Scot, I am delighted to learn that MPs Carswell and Wallace are working to bring down this most Dishonourable Sneaker of the House of Common Thieves. All power to their elbows. Everyone tainted by this tsunami of sleaze must be cleared out, starting at the top.

Major Plonquer

Martin won't be the first Speaker to be deposed in the middle of a Parliament as there are precedents.

During the reign of Edward the First the Speaker, Walter of Shropshire, was dismissed when deliberately released a bear into the chamber. The bear was eventually wrestled to the floor by the Cross Party Committee on Papal Indulgences but not before it bit off the head of the Tory Member for Balsover.

In Victorian times the Whig Speaker Cecil Cuthbert-Cuthbertson famously did not allow a single Tory question for an entire year. Whenever a Tory stood up to ask a question the Speaker also stood up, broke wind and sat down again. He was eventually impeached when it was discovered that he purchased an entire barrel of Korean kimchee and charged it to his Parliamentary expenses.

Vilipend

Agreed, Gove should be discarded immediately.

Tom Pride

Jo, May 11th, 2009 8:40pm

“Cameron should SACK Michael Gove immediately.”

This has been discussed in earlier blogs and comments and is O/T here. Opinion was split but there was considerable support, with explanatory reasoning, for the view that Mr Gove had not acted inappropriately and should not be offered up for sacking as an example. You provide no explanation for your view that he should be sacked nor why he should be sacked ahead of others whose offences, prima facia, are considerably worse.

My father used to commute by train 40 miles from Surrey into Waterloo and when I began work I lived with my parents and made the same journey. I found fairly soon that the commute, while acceptable if one’s hours were regular, that is you left work promptly between 5:30 or 6:30 pm so as to catch the twice hourly fast train, it became very tiresome if you had to work late or wanted to socialise after work. After 7:30 the trains home dropped to two an hour, one fast and the other semi-fast, and the journey took longer (psychologically at that time of night it seemed to take ages and left me exhausted – and then there was the walk home from the station.) It is not reasonable to commute those sort of distances by public transport if you regularly have to work irregular late hours and if you need to socialise in London. At after works drinks I was always one of the ones who was clock watching to make sure I was back at Waterloo by 11 pm.

Mr Gove’s explanation rings very true to me. I understand that it is not reasonable for someone in his position to be based outside of central London. Imagine he is working with David Cameron on a speech for the following day at 10:30 at night - Sorry Dave, got to leave now to catch the last train to Surrey Heath?

I moved into London as soon as I could afford it and I did not have a young family to be separated from. I understand why he needed to move his main residence to central London. I salute all those like my father who commute into London, often doing so to provide better, spacious living for their families. It is just that it does not suit everyone’s circumstances.

Let us hear no more about sacking Mr Gove unless you are prepared to provide sufficient reasons for doing so as I am prepared to provide in his defence.

Pete, Scotland

Just because a Scottish Labour Speaker has disgraced the position and a Scottish Labour Prime Minister/Chancellor has ruined the economy, please don't tar all Scots with the same brush.

We are not all socialist incompetents.

Praguetory

A Lib Dem has just written of Martin He is personally responsible for undermining the House of Commons.

Verity

Thrasymachus - inspired.

Derek

The convention is, or should be, that the House does not speak against the Speaker in the performance of his duty. When he steps outside that boundary, it becomes the duty of the other members to speak up and take action.

Herbert Thornton

This travesty of a Speaker must be deposed - as should a many other M.P.s of all parties.

The BNP at least are honest: fortunately for Britain, people are beginning to realise this.

Moraymint

Bloody hell. When you add all this up, aren't we in, or on the verge of a full-blown constitutional crisis? Is there anything the Queen can or should be doing right now?

Let's hear from a few constitutional experts here in the blogoshpere please. I find it hard to believe that our present Government and all its Parliamentary hangers-on and spongers (they're not there for you and me) can continue functioning. The next thing we'll see is street riots.

Moraymint

Silent Hunter

"Just as an aside - why does it take soooooo long for comments to appear here?"

Hear, hear. Could you explain please? Many thanks.

Chris Rose

This is excellent news. Ben Wallace has done us all a service. I am less interested in precisely what the Speaker may or may not have done than in seeing a fresh face in the installed in the Chair swiftly so that a clean-up can begin without delay.

Major Plonquer

A historic review has shown that Gorbals Mick is NOT the worst Speaker in History. The worst was probably the Victorian, Sir Cecil Cuthbert-Cuthbertson....

Read about it here: http://plonquer.blogspot.com

Ronnie

Without wishing to offend the hangers and floggers hereabouts, I've just read Simon Hoggart's report on Speaker Martin's statement to the House last night.

For the first time in my life I am moved to use the words 'disgraceful' and 'outrageous' in a political comment.

We really do need a new parliament now and the current occupants, with a very few exceptions, removed at a general election. This catasrophe will not be sorted until that happens.

Dr David McNally

Mr Martin is a joke who has done as much to bring the UK Parliament into disrepute as all the obscenely greedy MPs put together. I have just returned from a month's holiday in New Zealand. Watching their Parliament (unicameral, no 'Lords' and their system works fine) one sees a Speaker with a brain who has personal authority. Martin has neither, and it will be a revelation to see how much this hero of the Glasgow working class leaves when he eventually meets his Maker and Judge.

Pete Hoskin

Silent Hunter and Moraymint: I approve comments as promptly as possible between about 6:30am and midnight every day. Obviously, comments won't get approved when I'm asleep, on the Tube or, say, in the cinema - so that could be the problem you're experiencing.

If you ever feel that a comment of yours is taking a silly amount of time to go up, or if you think it may have been unfairly moderated, do email on phoskin @ spectator.co.uk and I'll look into it for you. That goes for any part if the site - I moderate all the blogs and magazine articles.

Michael Booth

When you gotta go, you gotta go... and Mr Speaker, you GOTTA go!

richardj

Why not turn the Houses of Parliament into a prison. more appropraite for those thieves who inhabit the place.

AF

Tom Pride,I agree,I thought Gove gave a reasonable explanation,nontheless the hole business is corrosive,and many will be tainted.

Paul B

Thrasymachus, I echo Verities word. Thank you.

Big Alec

ORDER! Eh ORDER! Ah ORDERED a really big stereo and ah ORDERED a really big telly as well! EH and whit happened tae ma ORDER for that new carpet??? OH eh an the wife ORDERED a holiday in Portugal but it wisnae expensive enough, wo we ORDERED another wan in Jamaica! Eh ORDER, ORDER!

Roger

The Mother of All Parliaments has been reduced to a common back street whore. Who would have believed that it would only take 60 years from being the most respected in the world to being the least.

William

Is Mr Martin's Rentokil bill related to his regular, taxpayer-funded, visits to Celtic Park?

There is a story about Martin, his MSP son and...elements in Glasgow if any half-decent journalist wanted to go and fetch it.

Ross

If ever there was an example of a fat, balding, pompous and out of touch fat cat then surely he is it. How can he possibly appeal to anybody. Why when politics is trying to attract younger voters do we have these people in the house. The entire front bench of the labour party is a national embaressment. To the blogger who commented on why MPs need expenses what a load of nonsense, this man should never be an MP. Who can not survive on 70k a year? We dont live in America, its not a huge country to travel around and why are MPs in London so often anyway and not in the constituencys? is it possibly to claim maximum expenses. Almost no private company to afford to give these allowances and they have plenty of staff who travel to london its just convenient that the taxpayers money is almost unaccountable and a cash cow for the greedy. Why does a millionare with 7 houses need my money?

Ruth Kelly's plaything

When's Brown going to start a war? And against whom?

He badly needs one.

Oo, er - he's already got two.

OK, so expect a major terror alert any time now; Heathrow closed, Tube shut, motorways at a standstill, Plod in his element.

Only something really major would bury this amount of bad news (Damian, are you reading?).

se1man

If Sneaker Martin insists on standing for his seat at the next GE then can we all persuade a strong independent candidate to stand against him?

I wonder if Martin Bell is doing anything next May...

hadrian

I think Diane Abbot should be nominated as Speaker..just so long as she can continue her late night forays onto This Week, of course!
As for saying the BNP is at least honest....well, maybe they can tell us what they think of National Socialism and Hitler and his anti-semitic thuggery? Honest? Don't make me laugh.

RifRaf

Who proposed Speaker Martin in the frist place? Why? Because PM's Blair and Brown new he'd be a stooge for Labour (despite the fact that Speakers are meant to be non partisan).

This started with Labour and it will end with Labour when he and them are booted out in 18 months time.

Unfortunately the rot and damage they've caused this once great nation will take a generation to undo

Nanny b

Are we going to let him slide out of office in his own good time taking his £100,000 pension with him?